Peoples Finance & Thrift Co. v. Fuller

1945 OK 197, 162 P.2d 189, 196 Okla. 32, 1945 Okla. LEXIS 474
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJune 12, 1945
DocketNo. 31488.
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 1945 OK 197 (Peoples Finance & Thrift Co. v. Fuller) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Peoples Finance & Thrift Co. v. Fuller, 1945 OK 197, 162 P.2d 189, 196 Okla. 32, 1945 Okla. LEXIS 474 (Okla. 1945).

Opinion

OSBORN, J.

This action was instituted by the defendants in error, hereinafter referred to as plaintiffs, against the plaintiff in error, hereinafter referred to as defendant, to recover damages for alleged breach of a contract of sale and breach of warranty in a deed delivered pursuant to such contract, the alleged breach consisting of a failure to convey the full fee-simple title to certain described real estate, with the exception of an oil and gas lease mentioned in the contract.

The plaintiffs in their petition alleged, in substance, that on or about the 15th day of March, 1936, the defendant contracted in writing to sell certain real estate to one H. A. Orr or his assigns for the total consideration of $1,500 as set forth in the contract, a copy of which was attached to the petition; that H. A. Orr and his wife assigned said contract to one John Burroughs, and that on or about the 28th *33 day of December, 1937, the said John Burroughs for valuable consideration assigned and transferred the contract to these plaintiffs, and that pursuant to said contract these plaintiffs did, on or about the 8th day of February, 1938, pay to the defendant the balance of the purchase price, except a certain portion which was represented by a second mortgage in favor of the defendant, and the defendant executed and delivered a warranty deed to all the described real estate subject to an oil and gas lease; that on or about the 1st day of April, 1938, the plaintiffs discovered that the defendant did not own all the royalty at the time they made the contract or at the time they made and delivered the warranty deed, but were only vested with a one-fourth interest therein; that the royalty under said real estate was actually worth the sum of $1,500 on March 15, 1936, the date of the contract of sale; that the value of said real estate with only one-fourth of the oil and gas royalty at the time the contract of sale was made was $650; that the value of all the oil and gas royalty at the time of the making of said warranty deed was the sum of $1,-800, and the value of the three-fourths to which these plaintiffs would be entitled but did not receive was the sum of $1,350. The plaintiffs prayed for judgment for $1,350 damages, order canceling the balance due the defendant upon the purchase, and for attorney’s fee and costs. Copies of the original contract of sale, the assignments, and the warranty deed were attached to the petition as exhibits.

To this petition the defendant filed a motion to require the plaintiffs to separately state and number the alleged causes of action so as to show the amount claimed as damages for breach of the contract and the amount claimed as damages for breach of the warranty and the cause of action seeking cancellation of the promissory note and plaintiffs’ claim to attorney’s fee. This motion was overruled and exception was saved by the defendant. Defendant then interposed a general and special demurrer, but it is only necessary to consider the general demurrer. This demurrer was overruled and exception allowed, after which the defendant filed an answer.

The answer contained a general denial and additional allegations which were, in substance, that the defendant purchased the real estate described in the petition, including, however, only one-fourth of the mineral rights at a sheriff’s sale, of which the plaintiffs had constructive and actual notice and plaintiffs could not be innocent purchasers. The defendant admits the execution of the sales contract, the assignments, and the warranty deed, but alleges that through inadvertence the exception as to the three-fourths royalty was omitted from the warranty deed ■and the plaintiffs paid nothing for omitted royalty and are not entitled to same under said contract or assignments, and that said inadvertent omission from said deed should avail plaintiffs nothing in equity; that plaintiffs knew the amount of the royalty payments and accepted the same as full and complete royalty payments and went into possession with full knowledge of the amount of the royalty payments and thereby ratified the same in all particulars. The defendant filed a cross-petition asking that the deed be reformed so as to show that only one-fourth of the royalty was intended to be conveyed thereby. To this answer and cross-petition the plaintiffs filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings, which was by the court overruled and exception allowed. At the beginning of the trial the defendant objected to the introduction of any evidence for the reason that the petition failed to state sufficient facts to constitute a cause of action in favor of the plaintiffs, which was overruled by the court.

Judgment was in favor of plaintiffs in the sum of $896.37 and interest from date of the deed and denying reformation of the deed as prayed for by defendant.

The first assignment of error presented by the defendant is that the *34 court erred in not rendering judgment for the defendant on the motion of plaintiffs for judgment on the pleadings. Under this assignment the defendant argues three propositions: (1) There is no breach of an agreement to convey when the conveyance is made in accordance with the agreement. (2) The allegation of a partial breach of a covenant of warranty does not state a cause of action unless the value of the interest affected by said breach is alleged. (3) That the answer states a complete defense and the cross-petition having asked for reformation of the instrument, and no reply having been filed, the defendant is entitled to judgment on motion. A motion for judgment on the pleadings searches the entire record, but cannot be sustained unless, under the facts stated in the pleadings, the court can as a matter of law pronounce judgment for one or the other of the parties. Mires v. Hogan, 79 Okla. 233, 192 P. 811. Such motion presents two questions: (1) Is there any issue of material fact, and (2) if no issue of material fact is presented by the pleadings, which party is entitled to judgment? Whipps v. Kling Bros. & Co., Inc., 182 Okla. 382, 78 P. 2d 291. In every case where the pleadings present a question, of fact to be determined, a motion for judgment on the pleadings should be denied. Hill v. Black Gold Petroleum Co., 183 Okla. 468, 83 P. 2d 164.

When measured by these rules it appears that the petition alleges breach of a covenant and damages therefor, which is denied by the answer, thereby presenting a material issue of fact, and also the defendant’s answer' presented the question of estoppel and ratification, which are affirmative defenses to be established by proof with the burden resting on the defendant. There was no error of the trial court in overruling the motion for judgment on the pleadings.

It is next urged by the defendant that the court erred in overruling the general demurrer of the defendant to the petition for the reason that a petition which shows that there was no breach of contract to convey and also alleges the value of the property affected by the breach of warranty and of the whole property only as of the date of the contract to convey and not as of the date of the breach of warranty does not state a cause of action, and cites in support thereof Baker v. Ebahotubbi, 117 Okla. 224, 246 P. 230. We do not believe the Baker Case supports the contention of the defendant.

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Bluebook (online)
1945 OK 197, 162 P.2d 189, 196 Okla. 32, 1945 Okla. LEXIS 474, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/peoples-finance-thrift-co-v-fuller-okla-1945.